United Slashes Partner Earning Rates

With cuts coming left and right in the world of airline loyalty programs, I must admit I no longer wince in pain when a new devaluation announced. The question of devaluation is not if, but when and how much. United has finally published its 2015 partner earnings charts, set to take effect on 01 March 2015 when United begins conferring award miles based on fare paid rather than miles flown. The chart is confusing but all you need to know is that in most cases you are going to take a substantial cut in earnings when you travel on a partner airline.

I do not have an assistant or the time myself to reproduce a highy convoluted chart, so for reference please see the one created by Lucky — it nicely summarizes the changes.

Here’s the gist of the changes–

If your ticket is issued on United stock (your ticket number begins with 016), your points will be rewarded based upon the fare paid as I outlined here, no matter what partner you fly on.

If your ticket is issued on a partner airline, you will earn miles according to the new chart above.

Most cheap and mid-range fares that used to earn 100% (i.e. 1 mile flown = 1 mile awarded) will drop to 50% — this includes travel even on joint-venture partners like Lufthansa and Air Canada.

Some deeply discounted fares on Miles & More Group carriers (Adria, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Brussels, Croatia Airlines) will actually start earning miles again — from 0% to 50%, so that at least there is one small consolation.

Some pricey first and business class fares will actually drop in earnings on ANA, Lufthansa, Swiss, and SAS.

United flights issued by other carriers will earn miles based upon the price of the ticket.

I could curse United and whine about how customer-unfriendly these changes are, but I won’t bother — in an era of limited competition, robust economic growth, full planes, and cheap oil prices, we cannot expect otherwise. We just cannot…

All I can do is repeat my mantra that my points are a depreciating asset and that if you are sitting on a pile of AA or US miles, you better burn them now because Doug Parker is licking his lips in anticipation of the massive devaluation that will soon come to AA, be it later this year or early next year.

Hopefully this will be the last devaluation for some time with United, though there is not much left to cut.

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he
travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120
countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry
and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York
Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News,
CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying
international relations, American government, and later obtaining a
law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel
industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in
the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House.
His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline
industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and
detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on
penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a
highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the
effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles.
Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of
points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the
direction and coordination of company travel.

@Dimitri — US/AA programs will merge in 2Q 2015 but we don’t have an exact date. If summer travel is to China, definitely best to book now — remember that you include former Star partner Air China in your search as well, though you cannot mix partners with oneworld alliance members.

So it seems that it will be ever less worth flying for miles. Most of my accumulations are from the use of credit cards; the limited availability of British Airways seats makes the gathering and use of Avios ever less rewarding and more frustrating than before. The higher “costs” of seats makes the enterprise even less rewarding. Is this whole thing worth it any more?